Maryville Film Club has an open casting for their new film project MASONS OF MARYVILLE, A ROMANTIC COMEDY.
The casting will take place at the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street Maryville, TN 37804.

Casting begins at 10:00 am to 2:30 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2007

If you are planning to read during your screen test you are asked to get a list of characters by emailing the Club, at maryvillefilm@yahoo.com for a list.

THIS PROJECT IS A DEFFERED PAYMENT FILM.

CLUBS MISSION, TO ENTER THE FINISH FILM SHORT IN FESTIVALS.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR TECHNICAL CREWS IN ALL POSITIONS.

I just read a Letter to the Editor in The (Maryville) Daily Times written by Glenn Morton commemorating the 60th anniversary of radio station WGAP.  As Glenn relates, WGAP was an important part of daily life in Maryville for many years.  The letter took me back to the days of my youth.  Yes, I was a DJ.

And no, smart alecs, I was not there when the station was founded.  I started part-time there soon after I got out of college and soon took over the evening board shift.  I could proudly tell my friends and family that I had the top-rated night-time radio program in Blount County.  [Sometimes I would also confess that the only other station had to sign off at sunset…]

But it was fun (and educational) working there, even though I worked there only about a year and a half.  I arrived a while before my shift started to record commercials.  I didn’t have to write them, just add music or sound effect and read the words written by the copywriter.  Things went pretty well — I remember driving through the area three or four years later and tuning to the station and being shocked when I heard my voice still being used on one of the spots.  Of course, as a staff announcer, these things were just part of the job — no residuals!

I only remember having to do-over one of the spots I recorded during my time there.  It was for a local furniture company.  I was young, with a fresh University of Tennessee diploma with a major in broadcasting, so I figured I knew quite a bit.  But I was informed that the “book answer” isn’t always the right one, at least not in Maryville.  Part of the copy referred to “Bedroom Suites”, and that’s what I recorded.  But that’s not what you say around here — it’s pronounced like “suits”.  No arguments were in order.  I recorded the spot again.

After awhile I began to get comfortable with the routine there.  I’d play country music (using a medium called “records”, kids) and play our recorded spots, bring up stuff from the network (Mutual!), and toward 11 p.m. would check with local law enforcement, the fire department, and so on to make sure we were up to date for the day’s final newscast.  One feature which seemed really quaint to me was the “Obituaries of the Air“.  At least at our station, we didn’t have the funeral organ music playing behind them.  But one night it suddenly became real to me.  I didn’t really do any preparation for the obituary portion of the news; I just took the announcements (called in from the funeral homes) and read them.  This night, I was midway through one death notice when it dawned on me that I knew the person whose death I was announcing.  It was an elderly black lady who had lived in a nursing home in Knoxville.  I used to go with a group to carol at Christmas at this nursing home, and this lady was our favorite.  She would love to sing along with us in her own unique style.  When I realized it was her, my voice caught just a brief moment, but I continued through it all.  I had a job to do.  However, those obituaries were never just routine after that.

I met some nice people in Maryville while working at WGAP.  The people at the radio station were all great, although being the “night guy”, I didn’t see some of them much.  At that time, the station was across the street from the Blount County Courthouse.  The other half of the buliding was occupied by a Pizza place.  Sometimes I didn’t have time to eat supper before I started my shift (especially after I was working two jobs — the other was a daytime shift doing news for a station in Knoxville), and I’d call next door to get a pizza made.  I got pretty good at timing my trip next door while a 3 minute record was playing.  Occasionally, if I couldn’t really leave the station (like during a football game when timeouts could happen at any time), the wonderful lady that ran the pizza place would even meet me at our front door with my food.

At local sunset (a rounded, FCC sort of time), I’d throw some switches on the transmitter remote control and go to reduced power.  That meant our signal hardly got out of the then-modest city limits of Maryville and Alcoa.  But I did have at least a few listeners, some of them regulars — in particular, a very nice older lady and a also nice young lady (that’s all I’m saying about that…) 

There were also some others I met.  There were a couple of young women who sang with a church group which broadcast a program from our studio who would call me up from time to time, but there was something wierd about them.  One of them started to say some things that were, well, inappropriate.  (She wasn’t my type, so it wasn’t welcome.)  I kinda let her know that she shouldn’t call any more, but she didn’t stop.  She then told me she was going into the hospital.  A few days later, I got a call from her friend.  The girl had died, she said.  This took me aback… and then she said her friend wanted me to have her car.  That was all she had to say.  I knew in my heart that it was all a lie, but at that very moment there was just that tiny bit of doubt…  I checked with the hospital.  The girl had been discharged — discharged as in fine, not dead.   What a wierd, cruel, manipulative hoax.  

I could have used a new car, though…

Otherwise, life was good at WGAP, but the pay was not, and I was ready to advance my career, so when I got an offer to do news fulltime in Knoxville, I left.  WGAP no longer has studios in downtown Maryville, so it’s not the same — but it’s alumni are all over the area — Walker Johnson, Ed Rupp, Bob Bell, Ken Schwall, etc. 

And I’ll always remember my brief time there — especially every night when I’d read the late news, sports, and weather, announce the station call letters, play the national anthem, and turn off the transmitter.  I felt like I was putting Maryville to bed for the evening.

Sleep tight.

The Clarence Brown Theatre Reading Series continues this Sunday night (Sept. 30), with I Just Stopped By to See the Man.

The performance is in the CBT Lab Theatre (enter from the ramp off the Pedestrian Mall (between Hess Hall and the Clarence Brown Theatre building, where the closed portion of Andy Holt Avenue used to be…)  It’s very near the intersection of Andy Holt Avenue and Melrose Place.

It’s open to the public, and is free, but seating is limited, so it’s first-come, first-seated!  Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.

The story line: Jesse Davidson, the last of the Delta blues singers, died fourteen years ago. But the story is… he isn’t dead at all. When an English rock band comes to town, the leader, Karl, comes lookng for the truth about his legendary hero and triggers a confrontation of mythic proportions.

Written By: Stephen Jeffreys
Directed by: Karen Kessler

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

Auditions!
September 30 from 1pm - 5pm at the Black Box Theatre

Auditionees will need one monologue no more than 2 minutes in length and a headshot (recent photo) and resume of any acting or performance credit or class.

Performances are November 23 thru December 1 and will include 3 school day matinee performances on November 27, 29 and December 1.  All performances at the Bijou Theatre on Gay St. in downtown Knoxville.

Please call the Actors Co-op to set up an audition appointment (909-9300).  More info available at www.actorscoop.net.

Thank you for your consideration!

Amy Hubbard, Executive Artistic Director

At the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee, we have a dual mission: to present professional regional theatre and to train students to do theatre in a professional way, via association with theatre professionals.

Notice the use of the word “professional”.  It’s not a dirty word — it’s associated with people who are talented and well-trained in what they’re doing and who dedicate their lives to their calling.

However, we should never use the word to mean “good” while other theatre is “bad”.  It just isn’t so.  I’ve seen professional theatre that was pretty bad (in my opinion).  And, I’ve seen plenty of amateur theatre that was pretty good.

Last night I saw a production of The Wizard of Oz by the Kingsport Theatre Guild.  The KTG is pure community theatre — amateurs all.  They’ve been at it for 60 years now, using whatver spaces they could fine - barns, high shool auditoriums, church fellowship halls, junior high cafeterias, and now the Kingsport Renaissance Center.  My mother appeared in an early KTG performance before I was born.

OK, this auditorium used to be a junior high school, so even after renovation is still not exactly a perfect or well-equipped stage.

But the production I saw last night was delightful.  OK, there were a few elements that weren’t up to code, but I enjoyed the show, and the audience “got” the message of the musical.

The production budget was tiny.  The orchestra was a piano (played wonderfully by my wife, Musical Director Susan Hoover!)  The sets were by committee, and was whatever got finished in time for opening.  The lighting was whatever was on hand and way inadequate in terms of numbers of instruments.  The stage is small, and there’s no fly space.  Costumes for the most part looked great, although largely parent-constructed and sometimes not consistent.

But with imagination, the audience had a great experience.  OK, maybe they were a little biased, with a large contingent of parents and grandparents of the large numbers of Munchkins on stage.  You really can’t miss too badly when you load the stage with cute kids, and these kids loved the light.  Some were as young as age three (!), so a couple of them waved to their loved ones in the audience during their scene, but it was fun to see them enjoying themselves.

Another given for community theatre is that the pool of available acting talent is uneven — you have to take and use what you have.  Our Dorothy — Sullivan South High School student Sierra Allen, did a wonderful job (sounded a lot like Judy Garland!), and the Wicked Witch of the West was portrayed wonderfully wickedly by Debbie Shoun.  Zach Schaftlein was as demonic Nikko (lead Flying Monkey) as you’d ever want to see.  I loved the Crows too, even after some of the corn was knocked over during the scene.  They kept eating it… The Director managed to have the other characters play to their strengths, while minimizing their shortcomings.

Sometimes having financial limitations can be a blessing — it forces you to use your imagination instead of your pocketbook.  Director Judy Womack (who’s acted or directed in about 100 shows of various types now) used what she had available with some creative touches that the audience enjoyed.  With no regular dressing rooms available, or proper storage space for set pieces, the transition from Kansas to Oz and back took a little longer than what you’d want, so something had to fill the “twister” transitions — a spot-lit model house “flying” over the front of the stage, bobbing up and down and twisting in the wind.  (It was manipulated by a fishing rod-and-reel from above!)

The lesson for theatre students — don’t cast aside opportunties just because a production might be “low budget” or “amateur” or “community theatre”.  You can do good work there.  You can be creative there.  You can learn there.

UT Theatre alumna Lauren Houston is now settled in Boston to begin her graduate studies in Television Management at Boston University.

Naturally, Lauren has prepared a video clip showing her apartment, her classroom building, Fenway Park, and environs.

In addition to her outstanding work as a student here, she did a great job working as a Box Office Associate and as a House Manager.  Last year, she taught drama at her alma mater Bearden High School.

By the way, she is still reachable via her gmail account: crazyrojo@gmail.com or her new collegiate email account: lhouston@bu.edu.

Theatre Knoxville Downtown is looking for three males for its production of Dracula, including the part of Dracula/Johnathan.

Auditions are tomorrow evening — that’s Sunday, Sept. 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Theatre Knoxville Downtown, on Gay Street across from Regas Restaurant.

Sharpen your fangs…

Here’s a letter that Cal MacLean received this week following our CBT Reading Series Production of Parade on Sunday, Sept. 16 in the Lab Theatre:

Dear Mr. Maclean,

This past Sunday we had the pleasure to see the reading of the musical
“Parade” in your Lab Theatre.  It was a compelling piece of theatre with a
powerful story from our American history.  We thought the play was well cast
and their performances were exceptional, given the limited rehearsal time.
This theatre experience has made a lasting impression on us; we simply
cannot stop talking to our friends about this play.  Some have heard of the
story of Leo Frank, while others were fascinated to hear about it.  Tuesday
evening, we “Googled” Leo and Lucille Frank and found their tragedy had been
accurately presented on your stage!  We also learned of the remarkable
impact Leo Frank’s death had upon our American legal system and about the
special interest groups that were spawned from his lynching. 

We are teachers in the Oak Ridge Schools who have used theatre arts many
times in our thirty-plus years of teaching in public schools.  We strongly
believe that this play has tremendous merit and deserves to be performed
again to a wider audience.  We know teachers would use this play to teach
their students about prejudice that existed then and that still exists today
in different forms.  It is our considered opinion that there are many other
groups and individuals who would appreciate a play with this message.  We
ask that you please give it serious consideration in your future play
selection. 

We realize that most musicals are ‘feel good’ performances from which the
audience leaves singing hit tunes.  The “Parade” does not seem fit the “feel
good” genre and its songs are not yet popular.  Nonetheless, we found this
music so compelling that we have purchased the original soundtrack from
Amazon.com! Something about it keeps drawing us back to hear it again.  That
final song by Leo & Lucille (”All the Wasted Time”) is really special!

While we have seen plays on the mainstage of Clarence Brown many times, this
was our first theatre experience in Clarence Brown Lab Theatre.  Needless to
say, it will certainly not be our last!  We have our calendar marked for
future Lab Theatre performances.

Thank you for raising the level of performing arts in our area and we look
forward to more.

Sincerely,

Mike and Barbara Bundy
Oak Ridge, TN  37830

If you’re coming to the UT football game this Saturday (Sept. 22 vs. Arkansas State), arrive a little early and make your way to the University Center for the UT Pre-Game Faculty Showcase, featuring Theatre Department Head and Clarence Brown Theatre Producting Artistic Director Calvin MacLean.

While that might sound exciting in itself, Cal’s topic, The Wizard of Oz: Gags, Shtick, Rhythms and Routines will also feature an eight-minute, two-actor version of the play written by Cal and performed by UT Theatre students Rachel Winfrey as Dorothy and Ash Edwards as everyone else. 

I’ve seen it.  It’s hilarious!  Oh, and check out the “Ruby Red” Slippers…

The Showcase begins at 5:00 p.m. and is free!

Read more about the Faculty Showcase here.

I’ve been fond of The Wizard of Oz for years; when I was an undergraduate student at UT many, many years ago (the early 70’s), my Advanced Television Production class made a documentary television program about the Clarence Brown Theatre production of the play.  (I was the Producer.)  The program was called How to make a Wizard.  I’d love it if someone in the Communications Building magically found the video tape so we could see it again, although it was recorded on the old format 2-inch video tape, so I’m not sure how we could play it…

Fortunately, I’m seeing a live version of the whole play this weekend.  The Kingsport Theatre Guild is presenting the musical at the Renaissance Center there; my lovely wife Susan Hoover is the Musical Director.  I understand they have plenty of talented young munchkins.